"Nihil mali intret!" concluded the merchant. "It is well that wishes are not bolts."

"Or _we_ should not come in!" said the other; and he trod scornfully with a quick step on the neat letters. These were rubbed smooth as a mirror with fresh oil. Leo's foot slipped, he staggered, tried to recover himself, stumbled again, and fell with a cry of pain on the stone slab, helmet and armour loudly rattling.

CHAPTER III.

Immediately, before his companion could stretch forth a hand to help him, the enraged man had tried to rise, but with a wild curse he sank again to the ground, and repelled vehemently the attempt of the other to a.s.sist him.

"Let me lie; the foot is broken or the ankle is sprained. No, it is the knee. I do not know. But I cannot stand--I must be carried."

"I will call the people of the house. The stone-mason is coming already."

"I will strike him dead if he touches me. I will have no help from him.

On the other side of the road to the left I saw some of my people spear-throwing on the drill-ground. Call them to me, they shall carry me away."

And this was done.

While the money-changer had gone for the soldiers Fulvius came forward, but the Tribune turned away from him and would not speak; silent, suppressing any utterance of pain, he was carried by the strong Moors into the town, where they soon obtained a litter and took him to the Capitol.

In the meanwhile Fulvius had stopped the merchant at the entrance. "Not over the threshold, most excellent man!" said he, pushing him back. "I am superst.i.tious; thou hast an evil look. As soon as I caught sight of thee and the Tribune I hastened to meet you, bringing the money which lies in that bag ready counted for thee. Here"----and he began to count out the silver money on the broad coping of the low wall. "Here, count then! It is reckoned correctly: fifty solidi princ.i.p.al, and at thirty per cent, interest, fifteen solidi more. And here--for I cannot transact business with thee without a receipt--on this wax tablet I have written the acquittance. Take the style, put thy name to it, and go thy way, never to return."

But with his lean hand Zeno pushed back disdainfully the silver pieces, so that they fell rattling on the stone slab and rolled round about.

"We do not separate so quickly, hospitable landlord and grateful debtor."

"Grateful! Thirty per cent, is, I think, thanks enough, and one is not hospitable to harpies and vampires. Take what belongs to thee and go!"

"When I have taken that which belongs to me," answered the Byzantiner fiercely, "then, not I, but _thou_, wilt go out of this house--out of this whole property."

"What does that mean?"

"That means, that my business is not merely with the fifty miserable solidi with interest. Thou art my debtor for more than twenty times that sum; mine is the house, mine the whole possession, most probably thyself also, at this moment, with every bone in thy body; mine also that slave daughter, who peeps anxiously there between the curtains, with the child at her breast. Mother-sheep and lamb are my own."

So maliciously were these words uttered, at first lightly whispered, then in rising anger, ever louder and more threatening, that Fulvius, alarmed, looked back to see if his young wife had perceived this disaster.

But Felicitas had again disappeared behind the curtain, satisfied that the wild officer, whom she feared, she knew not why, was no longer there. She knew well that the money was ready for the usurer.

Smiling, she bade farewell to her guest, who had emptied his beaker and now took his departure. Not a cloud overshadowed her white brow as she now sat down on the couch, and with a sweet smile on her maiden-like countenance raised the waking child, and proceeded to give it nourishment.

Zeno still delaying, Fulvius in fear and anger pushed him with his elbow a step farther from the entrance; the muscles of his naked arms tightened, his hands clenched; threatening but speechless, he stood before the man who had spoken such fearful words.

Crispus now came forward; he seized his young nephew firmly by the wrist of his right arm, which he was slowly raising for a blow.

"What means this?" cried the fat uncle, anxiously.

Fulvius spoke not a word.

But Zeno answered: "This means, that I have bought this property from the Imperial Exchequer, with all the old claims for State taxes, and seven times the rent due to the Emperor, for which, according to the accounts, this tenant and his father are many decades in arrear; this makes, together with the fines, a debt of seven thousand solidi."

Crispus calculated in an instant that if even he gave his whole possessions to save his nephew, they would not amount to a seventh part of this sum.

"That means," continued Zeno, "that as there is no doubt about the inability of the debtor to pay, I claim him as my slave for debt, and shall to-morrow be installed by the magistrate into the property."

"Oh, Felicitas!" groaned Fulvius.

"Be calm; I will take mother and child home with me till the suit is decided," comforted the good-natured uncle.

"Law-suit?" laughed Zeno. "A suit that begins with its accomplishment is quickly decided. My claim is indubitably shown by the Imperial tax-rolls; they give positive evidence, and that young creature"----

"Wilt thou also claim the wife for the debt of her husband? That is not Roman justice," cried Crispus.

"Stay with thy ridiculous statues, and do not teach me justice and its ways. The young wife is a slave-child, the property of the master of her parents. This man died without a will, without a.s.signable heirs.

His property fell to the Exchequer; to the Exchequer belonged the parents and belongs the child."

"The old Krates set the parents and the child free before his death."

"Where is the letter of emanc.i.p.ation?"

And when both were silent the usurer continued in a triumphant tone: "You are silent? It is, then, as I suspected: the papyrus was destroyed when her parents' house was burnt in the rising of the people against the tax-collectors. Her birth as a slave is undisputed, the letter of emanc.i.p.ation is not forthcoming, therefore she and her slave-brood are mine."

The young husband was overcome with pa.s.sion and anguish, and a blow with his fist on the breast of the villain sent him staggering backwards. "Hast thou, then, thou old sinner, purchased my wife in advance from the Fiscus, as thou hast also me and my house?"

"No," said he, exasperated, "the beautiful Greek belongs to a handsome young lord, who suits her better. A lion will soon drag her to his den.

Thou knowest well what kind of suitor the lion is."

"The Tribune!" cried Fulvius. "I will strangle him first with these fists; and thou, panderer, take"----

But Crispus slung both arms around him, holding him fast.

So Zeno gained time to make his escape. He quickly mounted the path which led to the main road; when he had gained the height he turned and looked through the bushes at the villa. He raised his fist menacingly, and cried to the two men, "Woe to the vanquished!"

CHAPTER IV.

Crispus then turned to go towards the house.

"What dost thou wish to do?? asked Fulvius.

"To ask Felicitas if there is no writing, no evidence of emanc.i.p.ation"----but the young husband stopped him.

"No, no! She must know nothing about it. The poor, tender, helpless, happy child! It would crush her--this horrid plot!"

"How wilt thou prevent her knowing it, when it will to-morrow be carried out? For I do not doubt it is all correct what the usurer says of the tax-dues and of his purchase of the property. And that is not the worst. Thou canst fly, as so many thousand debtors have already, to the mountains, to the forests, to the barbarians, for aught I care.